We spent a week in Egypt on a Cruise on the River Nile; we were on board the MS Fleurette. This was an excellent way to explore several parts of Egypt rather than being restricted to just one place. We sailed between Luxor and Aswan and took an optional full day excursion to Cairo by plane. We had a fantastic tour guide, Waleed, and he went out of his way to accommodate us because we are Deaf. He made sure we knew what was what and tried to make sure we were following him when he talked about each place. His efforts made our trip just that bit more enjoyable. We visited plenty of ancient temples, the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, the High Dam, the Colossi of Memnon, the spectacular great pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum. We also took a ride on a felucca and braved the bustling Khan-el-Khalili bazaar – well, sort of!

Egypt was interesting. Very different to anywhere we have been; the amount of ancient history found there is just staggering. As a historian, I have always taken interest in historical buildings but it’s just amazing how Egypt can be so different. You travel back in time in European countries for example, and mainly come across castles, cathedrals and ruins, all of which date back to sometime after 1,000 AD. Egypt is nothing like that at all. It’s interesting how its history is so ancient, yet there is very little mention of what happened in the last 1,000 – 1,500 years. Like Britain, most of the famous histories for other countries are after 1,000 AD, but for Egypt, it’s all BC and the very early years of AD.

Apart from the visit to Cairo, one of the trips I enjoyed most was to the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens (the burial ground of famous Kings and Queens). Both places were just fascinating and entering tombs was a pretty surreal experience. The tombs are now empty but are decorated with hieroglyphics in beautiful colours. The tomb of Rameses IV was the first one we entered and it was unbelievable, not what I expected at all. It’s just hard to believe so much effort was made for just one person! It just makes you realise how much respect and importance was placed on the Kings and Queens in those days.

The temples we visited included Karnak, Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae. By the time we finished with Philae Temple, it started to feel they were all the same but they are all unique in their own way and have their own stories to tell. Being in these temples felt like being in an open air museum and just looking at the vast size of them was overwhelming.

Karnak Temple was amazing. It is the largest ancient religious site in the world. It comprises three main temples, built and enlarged over a thirteen hundred year period. It is a superb example of ancient Egyptian architecture depicting life around 1600 BC. Luxor Temple was pretty impressive, but I felt it wasn’t as good as Karnak: it seemed more subtle. I liked how the entrance to this temple was lined with ram sphinxes and like any other temple, the large statutes you’re faced with on entrance is superb. Edfu Temple on the other hand, is probably Egypt’s best preserved temple. After Karnak, it is the largest temple in Egypt and was built by the father of Cleopatra around the 1st Century BC in dedication to the falcon-headed god Horus. The level of preservation is so good that some of the roofs still survive. Apparently this temple was buried under sand for almost 2,000 years, which would help explain how it has been well preserved. We then went to Kom Ombo Temple. This was unusual and probably one I found most interesting. It was completely different to the other temples we saw, but then again, all temples are different in their own way. Kom Ombo Temple was dedicated to two gods – Horus, the falcon-headed god and Sobek, the crocodile-headed god. Its ‘double’ design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. Among the reliefs on the walls are detailed a set of medical instruments – I’m not sure what the point of this was! One thing I liked about this temple (which probably makes me sound gruesome) is the fact that mummified crocodiles were on display. Last but not least, we have Philae Temple. Like Luxor, nothing really stood out for me apart from the fact that it is situated on an island and you can only get there by boat. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see.

All temples have Egyptian carvings covering a large proportion of the temple walls, both inside and out. I just marvelled at how long it must have taken to get them so beautifully decorated. Having said that, it’s just unbelievable thinking such large buildings were built over 2,000 – 3,000 years ago. We know they did not possess all the modern day equipment so how the hell did they do it?! This doesn’t just apply to temples, there are the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens and you only need to take one look at the Pyramids of Giza and be left astounded. And why is it that only Egypt holds so many ancient buildings and monuments that are still pretty intact considering they’re up to 4,000 years old. It just beggers belief!

Our last full day in Egypt was spent in Cairo. This was a VERY long day! We had to wake up at 3am and were picked up at 4am to head for the airport to fly to Cairo. We did not get back on the ship until after 11pm that night. We were totally whacked by the end of it, but it was definitely worth it.

We saw the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx as well as paying a visit to the Egyptian museum and the Khan-el-Khalili bazaar.

Cairo was certainly an experience. Even though we had been to a few places in Egypt by that point, Cairo was just crazy and hectic in comparison. You only need to look at the roads to be totally flabbergasted. Cars were just bumping into each other; it was like the dodgems at a fairground. It is evident they do not take pride in their cars as practically all of them had dents and scratches everywhere. Thinking about us Brits, one scratch warrants a visit to the garage!! I watched one car trying to attempt parallel parking and the driver didn’t even go slow nor checked his mirrors, just waited until he bumped into the car behind him to go forward, then bumping into the car in front prompted him to reverse!!! There was no traffic order, cars were just pulling out from anywhere and everywhere and horns were beeping endlessly – and bear in mind, two Deaf people could hear this from inside a coach, so imagine how ear-splitting this was! All I can say is, this woke us up!! The 3am start had us falling asleep by this point, so witnessing this left us rather wide-eyed! Rob and I hardly spoke to each other at this point, just glanced at each other from time to time shaking our heads! I just wonder if these people actually have a drivers licence!

Another weird thing we noticed about Cairo was the buildings. Even though there were LOTS of building hardly any of them seemed complete. Windows and roofs were missing and the structure just didn’t make sense. Neither of the buildings looked lived in, so we were confused!

As we got further into Cairo on the coach, the pyramids were in full view. I was amazed at how close they are to suburbia. I imagined them to be out in the middle of the desert. I’m sure this would never have been allowed if it was in Britain for example.

I have to say that I was amazed at how little care the Egyptians seemed to take when it came to preserving their history. People were allowed to touch the walls of the temples, lean on them and sit on stones. At Giza, the coaches were allowed to park within metres from the foot of the pyramids. With this being such a major tourist attraction resulting in hundreds of coaches going up there everyday, leaving their engines running for the duration of the visit, you can just imagine how much fumes are being released in the area. It’s a scary thought, but it seems the Egyptians are using their history to make money rather than taking pride in it. I’m sure this is not true for all Egyptians. You only needed to take one look at our enthusiastic tour leader, Waleed, to see how proud he was of his history, but unfortunately, those who seem to be in control of preserving these ancient sites appear to be doing very little. If you think about Stonehenge in Britain, you’re not allowed to park anywhere near it, and you’re not even allowed to touch it.

Anyway, back to Cairo. Once we arrived at the pyramids, it was jaw-dropping. You know it’s big, but trust me, you don’t realise how big until you actually see it with your own eyes. We were stunned by the experience and there are no words to describe it. Photographs we took does not do its size justice. It is incredible to think how the blocks were placed together with such precision and with very little tools. It just makes you realise how skilled the ancient Egyptians were. The Sphinx was pretty cool to look at. I was rather disappointed at how its face has been damaged, but hey, it can’t stay perfect forever.

After lunch we headed for the Museum. This was filled with hundreds and thousands of relics from every period in Egyptian history. The highlights for me were the treasures of Tutankhamun and the mummies room.  Rob and I were quite excited about seeing the mummies, which makes us sound rather morbid! I was expecting this to be a horrible and gruesome experience but it really wasn’t that bad. The mummies looked like rotten wood! I wonder how those people would feel knowing that their bodies would be on display for people to stare at 3,000 years later. I think they would have liked it. Thinking about their efforts to ensure they had tombs ready for their deaths, they certainly didn’t want to be forgotten. Right attention seekers they were!

The last stop in Cairo was the Khan-el-Khalili bazaar, the capital city for touts! Touts were EVERYWHERE we went but if I talked about each experience as I went along, this post would be twice as long. If you go to Egypt, you must be prepared for these annoying buggers, you simply cannot avoid them. I know I talked about touts in my post about Tenerife but trust me, Tenerife is nothing compared to Egypt! They’re simply in your face all the time. Khan-el-Khalili bazaar consisted of quite a lot of shops but they all seemed empty. Everyone walking through the lanes by the shops were simply trying to get away from the touts. At one point, you could have about four touts in your face screaming “5 POUNDS, 4 POUNDS, 3 POUNDS…BUY TWO FOR 4 POUNDS….” It’s a shame really, this was a great opportunity to do a spot of shopping but they were simply driving everyone away. Even if you entered a shop, you wouldn’t have the chance to have a proper look around because a tout would be in your face trying to sell one particular thing.

The best thing to do is just carry on walking and completely ignore them – until you come across one who is clever enough to engage you in a conversation leaving you wondering how the hell you got roped into it! I’ll just talk about two experiences to give you an idea.

At the pyramids, we got sucked in by two touts. One came up to me putting his scarf around my head and his arm around me, ordering Rob (in a nice way) to take a picture of us as a souvenir! That it was, we were buggered! The next thing we knew, he had the camera off Rob taking several pictures of us two. He then tried getting us on a camel! His son brought the camel to us and got it to sit down. We REFUSED to get on because we had no idea what would happen next. He would probably end up carrying us off somewhere and we wouldn’t be able to get off. Keeping in mind we had to be back on the coach in a few minutes, we simply couldn’t take the risk. By the time we got the camera back and just about finished with him, Rob gave him a tip – you have to give tips for this sort of thisng otherwise you’re backed into a corner! Rob tried to find a twenty pound note (which is about £2) but the smallest he had was a hundred pound note. This guy saw that and insisted we give it to him as he had plenty of change. He even took the change out of his pocket. Once the hundred was in his hand, he tried very hard not to give it back! The conversation between us was something like:

Tout: “That’s LE100 for the photographs and my camel, you need to give me another LE20 for my tip”

Me: “HUH? Your camel? We never even went on it. Plus it’s OUR camera and OUR photos”

Tout: “Yeh, but you got a picture of MY camel”

Me: “Yeeeeh but it’s OUR camera!”

Rob: “You didn’t say anything about paying for the camel”

Tout: “Yeh but you got a picture of my camel so it’s LE100”

Rob: “Give me my change for the LE20 please”

Tout: “No, you haven’t given me enough”

(this was being repeated for a bit)

Rob: “OK, FINE, just give me LE50 back and u keep LE50”

Tout: “Yes but u have to pay for my camel”

Rob: “LOOK, we came here to see the pyramids, not to talk to you, so give me my money back please”

(not sure what happened then, but he gave us the LE50 back)

I have to admit he did seem like a genuinely nice guy (!!!) and we did get some lovely photographs out of it!

One thing we did notice about the touts is that they don’t steal. They try very very hard to keep as much money as they can, but you do end up getting change in the end, even if it wears you out! We witnessed one tout annoying another tourist earlier that week and he was simply refusing to give the tourist his change, he wanted him to have extra souvenirs instead. The tout then ran inside a shop to get more items but the tourist saw this as an opportunity to escape and got back on the bus. In the end, that tout gave the bus driver that tourist’s change and asked him to pass it on.

Another experience at the pyramids was rather similar. A bloke came up to us and started a conversation by saying his mother is from Yorkshire. Yeh right! Because we were British, he gave us free Arabic hats and pyramid statues. After taking pictures of us with the hats on he insisted we pay for what was meant to be free. HA! By that point, Rob wised up about opening his wallet in front of the touts, so he put small change in his pocket. That tout was insisting Rob take his wallet out because the small change simply wasn’t enough. Cheeky! We managed to get away from him by keeping/paying for one hat and shoving the rest of the items in his arms. Once we got back on the coach, we saw the same bloke doing exactly the same thing to another couple. We were rather amused!

Even though these blokes are rather infuriating, it’s all part of the experience. It’s something we can look back on and laugh about. I didn’t get that annoyed with them mainly because I was prepared for it. I have to admit the arguments with them did raise my blood pressure a bit but hey, that’s good for someone with postural hypotension! I was starting to feel dizzy by one point but after an argument, I felt so much better!

If you want to know more stories, then ask me.  There’s still so much more to say about Egypt but if I carry on, I’ll send you to sleep – if I haven’t already!

In Dublin’s fair city, where girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
She wheeled a wheel-barrow, through streets broad and narrow
Crying: cockles and Mussels a-live, a-live oh ….

Got a little carried away there…!

We went to Dublin for 3 nights for the week of Rob’s birthday. We stayed at The Jury’s Inn hotel which was overlooking the picturesque Christchurch cathedral. This was the perfect location for sightseeing and shopping. We were within walking distance of Trinity College, Temple Bar, O’Connell Street and Dublin Castle.

On the day we arrived, we spent the afternoon on a hop-on-hop-off tour bus. The weather wasn’t brilliant as it rained most of that day, so we thought this would be the best option as we could go downstairs of the bus and be undercover if necessary. Luckily, we got on the bus when it wasn’t raining, so we managed to see a fair bit. We got off at the Guinness Storehouse. You can’t really go to Dublin and not go in the Guinness Storehouse!

I found the Guinness Storehouse to be rather interesting mainly because the smell and learning about its ingredients made it sound like it tastes nicer than it actually is. We got to the top and saw the fabulous views. We didn’t bother with the complimentary pint because I for one can’t stand the stuff, and Rob couldn’t be bothered to queue for it! We did have a free glass on one of the floors on the way to the top though, so didn’t completely miss out! Rob did the Irish proud and had a pint (or two!) of Guinness every time we ate out or went in a pub. He did notice the Guinness tasted smoother than is does back home. Even though Guinness is something of an Irish icon, I couldn’t touch it! I did have a sip of my free glass at the Storehouse but….eeew!

When we came out of the Storehouse, it was pouring down with rain. We ended up sitting at the bottom of the tour bus but I was rather miffed about the fact that the rain left the windows all steamed up, so we couldn’t see anything. I wasn’t a happy bunny! Before heading back to the hotel, we went into a typical Irish restaurant where I had an Irish stew – yummy!!!

The next day, we were pleased to discover that the weather had brightened up and there didn’t seem to be any sign of rain. We spent the day exploring Dublin on foot. We went to the famous Trinity College, a lovely place to walk around, and we visited the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is the greatest Irish work of art to survive from the Middle Ages, it has been in the library of Trinity College since the 1660s. It was fascinating to look at but the fact that only one page was on display (it was in a locked glass cabinet) was rather disappointing, although we could understand why. Even more amazing to see, was the Trinity College Library. Oh my God!! The main chamber of the Old Library, the Long Room, is nearly 65 metres in length, and houses around 200,000 (yes, 200,000) of the Library’s oldest books. The smell was astounding! There’s no word to describe the smell, but you could certainly smell its history.

The rest of the day saw us going into Dublin Castle and Dublina (which gave a visual presentation of Dublin’s medieval past). A rather historical day, but hey, I’m a historian after all! Not only that, we did some shopping around Temple Bar, O’Connell Street and Grafton Street and bought some souvenirs. We also saw the statue of Molly Malone. There were some tourists sitting on and leaning against the statue which I found VERY annoying! They were just chatting away looking at their maps completely oblivious to people around them trying to take a picture of the statue. I couldn’t help thinking “are they thick or what?!” I didn’t want them in my pictures of Molly Malone, and neither did anyone else I’m sure. Nevertheless, we managed to take a picture of the top two thirds of the statue.

Our last full day in Dublin was Rob’s birthday. We decided to book a trip and go out of Dublin for the afternoon. Even though we like Dublin, we couldn’t help feeling that we weren’t really experiencing Irish culture. We found Dublin to be a little too British. If you want to experience Ireland properly, then I wouldn’t suggest Dublin. That afternoon, we went to Malahide Castle (which is about 30 minutes north east from Dublin). We were able to appreciate some of Ireland’s countryside on the way. I found Malahide Castle to be different as it was a bit on the small side. For a castle, it wasn’t very big at all, but I found it to be rather cosy and rather charming (although I could see why some people would say they were completely underwhelmed by the experience). The castle itself is set on beautiful grounds and the area is rather peaceful. However, after seeing numerous castles in the last few years, I can’t help feeling if you’ve seen one castle, you’ve seen them all. Although the history is different for each one, they all have their similarities to others.

We had a stopover in Los Angeles on the way home from Australia in 2001. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, we didn’t get to see anything because our body clocks were buggered, so we spent the whole day sleeping then the whole night awake!! I remember we left Sydney, Australia at 1.30pm on the Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Los Angeles something like 6.30am Tuesday morning. So really, we had flown 13 or 14 hours but our clocks went back 19 hours. It was really weird going back to the time and day before we even got on the plane, it was like we hadn’t done any flying at all, yet we had been awake so long. Being on that flight was like being trapped in time.

Because of that, we decided to have another stopover on the way home from New Zealand (via Hawaii) and stay for 2 nights, to give us the opportunity to see what we wanted to see. To be honest, two nights was enough. I mainly wanted to see the Hollywood sign and the Walk of Fame, so I was happy when we found a trip that gave a tour of LA which would take us to the famous spots. It was an afternoon trip, so we spent the morning heading to Santa Monica Beach, walking along Santa Monica Pier. We were there at the end of March when the weather wasn’t brilliant, so the beach looked deserted. I can imagine it’s a lovely location on a hot summer’s day.

The first stop on our trip was to see the Hollywood sign. Spotting the Hollywood sign from a distance was just how I had imagined it. It was no different to what you see on TV. That stop on our tour around LA lasted about 10 – 15 minutes, but it was enough to see it with our own eyes, take some pictures and say “been there, done that, got the t-shirt!”

The next stop was to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I was quite excited by this point because I wanted to find the star for Dick Van Dyke. You can imagine my excitement when it was one of the first ones we saw! We was lucky to find it so quickly because that walk is about 3.5 miles and contains thousands of names; it would have been impossible to look at them all in one go, especially since we only had about 40 minutes before getting back on the bus. The stars were a pink colour with gold edges set in black marble with the names written in gold. After about 15 – 20 minutes, we had seen enough to be satisfied. I still wanted to find Celine Dion though (Rob’s favourite artist) and luckily, she popped up as we were about to give up. The location of the Walk of Fame was a bit odd, leaving me rather unimpressed. The street itself felt rundown. Shops were selling cheap, tacky items and pizza places were next door. There was also the glitzy Chinese Theatre right in the middle. A weird combination; there was no feeling of ‘Hollywood glamour’. I really did think the Walk of Fame would have better surroundings, maybe located on the path of some park or expensive shopping centre. It would make more sense if it was in the street next to Rodeo Drive or something. Anyway, I’ve seen it, so I’m satisfied.

The rest of that tour took us to some famous, well known, spots in LA. We saw the outside of the theatre where they hold the Oscars and we spotted the house of David and Victoria Beckham. We also drove past some other famous homes but have no idea whose houses they were as the driver was speaking through the speaker while driving, so we couldn’t see him. We also drove around Beverley Hills, going past the Beverley Hills Hotel and had an opportunity to do a bit of shopping in Rodeo Drive! *cough* I didn’t feel star struck when seeing all this, to me it was just another hotel, another street, another house, another shopping centre – all of which are ridiculously overpriced.

Back at the airport for our final flight home, we were dismayed at how disorganised they were. LAX is definitely the WORST airport we have been to. We had to queue up for more than an hour to check in. I think we were stood in the same spot without moving for 15 minutes at one point. Once we checked in, we found we had to take our cases to a different desk, which required more queuing up. Once that was sorted we were relieved to have some time to relax, until we discovered we had to queue up again to have our passports checked before going through security, even though we had our passports checked when we checked in. Those checking our passports the second time were really really picky. They examined every feature on our faces and compared them to our passport photographs. I spotted one bloke trying to explain why he had short hair compared to his longer hair on his passport. Bizarre! What doesn’t make sense it why checking in took so long when they didn’t even take our cases and did very little. I’ll never work it out! After all that palaver and finally getting through security, it was time to go to the departure gate, so we didn’t have time to do any shopping. People were still queuing up at check-in by the time we got to that stage, so I’ve absolutely no idea how that flight left on time.

I wouldn’t be bothered if I never went to LA again. Our hotel was a bit out of the way and when walking back through quieter streets, it didn’t feel very safe. I don’t know why, just couldn’t shake off the feeling of needing to look over my shoulder every now and again. I can’t work out if I prefer LA or New York. LA was quieter but New York has more to offer so I guess I like both places the same.

Aloha! Hawaii was gorgeous – palm trees, beautiful coast, sandy beach, clear water. It ranks in my top three favourite places easily. The people there are quite relaxed and very friendly, giving off a very relaxed atmosphere. As soon as we arrived in Honolulu airport we were greeted by rather enthusiastic, chirpy, men who wore bright, flowery shirts. It’s funny how Hawaii is part of the USA, yet it is very different in terms of fashion and attitude. I found the atmosphere in New York and Los Angeles to be the same and since that’s from one end of the USA to the other, I imagined the rest of the USA to be the same. I guess Hawaii has been influenced by some of the pacific islands in some way, because, after all, it is a five hour flight away from Los Angeles.

We were only in Hawaii for three nights and that time went very quick. As soon as we arrived, I could see how delightful the place was and didn’t want to waste any daytime sleeping. We had no choice really because we arrived early in the morning. Our body clocks were buggered because we had just flown from Christchurch, New Zealand and crossed the International Date Line while in the air. This meant we left Christchurch at 15.35 on Wednesday 26 March and landed in Honolulu at 8:50 on Wednesday 26 March. In that time we had flown 13 hours in total as well as stopping in Sydney, Australia for 3 hours to change planes, only to land in Hawaii and put our clocks back 23 hours. Confused? We certainly were! We had to remind ourselves that we had been awake 24 hours by the time we landed despite the fact that it was early in the morning of a new day.

We spent most of our time there strolling up and down Waikiki beach, watching the surfers in the sea and doing some shopping. We also paid a visit to the local aquarium. The weather was quite warm so it really was like a beach holiday, but a lot better than going on a beach holiday in Tenerife for example. I can’t explain why; Hawaii just had that extra something to offer.

We booked a trip to go to Pearl Harbour while we were there. The tour included watching a short film in the museum then getting on a boat to the Arizona memorial. The memorial was erected over the sunken warship from the infamous Japanese raid on Pearl Harbour in World War II. Being there was quite poignant; you could almost feel the history. Until we got there, I didn’t realise that the memorial was placed right on top of the USS Arizona, in the very same place that ship was attacked and sunk. Oil is still seen escaping from one of the hatchways of the wreck which amazed me because we are talking over 60 years later. It is also the grave of many who died there; it was an eerie feeling knowing that something like 1000 sailors lay below us in their watery grave. You could see the ship under water and some of the ship’s structure was visible above water. The staff controlled the number of people who went into the memorial, so you weren’t allowed to stay longer than your allocated time. This was good as it enabled everyone to take it all in without being crowded.

We ended our stay in Hawaii by having a meal on the ‘Top of Waikiki Revolving Restaurant’. This was an unusual but superb experience, even though it wasn’t cheap! It was located on the 18^th floor and whenever you looked out of the window while eating, you didn’t get the same view as 5 minutes ago! You either see the beach, ocean or city. I wouldn’t like to be a waitress in that restaurant because it can’t be easy to remember where the customers are seated!

I would recommend Hawaii, provided you’re prepared for the long flight. It’s somewhere I will go again but for a proper holiday, at least two weeks.

We travelled by coach to Christchurch from Queenstown via Mount Cook.

What can I say about Mount Cook? It was gorgeous to look at but not something that made us go “wow” compared to Milford Sound. This was probably because we knew what Mount Cook looked like beforehand but nothing prepared us for the beauty of Milford Sound. I am glad we saw Mount Cook because you can’t really go to New Zealand and be in the area and not visit it. We had the chance to go up the top on a helicopter but we decided not to bother as we felt what we could see from a distance was enough. We had lunch in the café overlooking Mount Cook which was lovely and we took some pretty nice pictures. 

Once we got to Christchurch, we weren’t too impressed. There seemed to be very little to see and do compared to Auckland, Rotorua and Queenstown. Maybe it was the location of our hotel, but I’m pretty certain we got to the centre of Christchurch by foot one evening and we struggled to find somewhere to eat and ate at the hotel both nights we were there. If there is nowhere decent to eat, then what does that say about the location?! I suppose we spent the first day travelling to Christchurch via Mount Cook and the second day travelling to and from Kaikoura where we went whale watching. The only opportunity we had to walk around Christchurch was when it was dark, so maybe that’s why it seemed so sedate. But then again, Auckland, Rotorua and Queenstown seemed just as lively at night as they did during the day. The fact that our itinerary from Travelbag didn’t allow for time to do something in Christchurch is probably a good indication there is nothing there and we probably only stopped there to fly out of New Zealand.

Our last day in New Zealand saw us going to Kaikoura whale watching. It was a long drive from Christchurch to Kaikoura: about 2 hours. After going on the dolphin cruise in Auckland and being a little disappointed with not seeing more than we did, I was a little wary of how enjoyable this trip would be. However, it turned out to be better than Auckland. It was a truly memorable and enjoyable experience. It was the first time I actually saw whales and we also saw fur seals, albatross and dusky dolphins. Seeing a whale up close was surreal. I always knew they were big but didn’t imagine them to be THAT big! The whales we saw just seemed flat out on top of the water (well, they are big and heavy so can’t do very much!) We also saw two whales doing a dive underwater but it obviously wasn’t like a normal dive where the water splashes, the whale dives seemed to go into slow motion and the water surrounding it just remained calm. Rob’s face on this trip was a picture – he had always wanted to go whale watching. When he managed to snap a picture of a whale diving, he was grinning from ear to ear. Bless him! This proved to be a wonderful way to end our stay in New Zealand.

Milford Sound is pure magic. The scenery was magnificent, turning to majestic the further we progressed. The mountains go up vertically on either side. Countless waterfalls plunge down into the fjord. Photographs, of which we took many, cannot show the sheer size of the place. There are no words to describe its beauty; you just need to be there to see it.

I think we were picked up from our hotel at 7am that morning for a 5 hour journey to Milford Sound. The journey to Milford Sound took us along Lake Road to Frankton, past foothills of the Remarkables mountain range. We stopped for morning tea at the quiet and tranquil town of Te Anau. Apparently, Te Anau is the gateway to the serene views of Milford Sound. We then continued into Fjordland National Park, one of the largest in the world; passed through lush subtropical rainforests and tumbling waterfalls which opened up to the mighty Milford Sound. While in Milford Sound, we enjoyed breathtaking views of Mitre Peak and the Sound, whilst relaxing on a cruise. That cruise took us under one of the waterfalls; I think it was called Stirling Falls. This ran down a hung valley and dropped 155 metres into the fjord. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? For anyone going to New Zealand this place is a must see. It was well worth getting up early and travelling 5 hours for.

If there is anyone out there who has been and does not appreciate the beauty of the place then they are, quite frankly, off their rocker. Stroppy teenagers would probably get away with criticising the place but anyone else would need help!

We had the added bonus (well, Rob would call it a bonus) of taking a scenic flight back to Queenstown in the smallest aeroplane I’d ever seen: it was only an 8 or 10 seater plane. *Gulp!* Me, not being a huge fan of flying had to pluck up the courage to get on. I have to admit, it was worth it and something you will thoroughly enjoy – once you get over the initial fear of being in the plane that is! It is also worth doing if you want to avoid seeing the same thing over again if you took the 5 hour coach journey back: the scenic flight took just 45 minutes.

Upon arriving in Queenstown, we were hugely impressed and immediately knew this would be one of our favourite places in New Zealand. Once we checked in and discovered our room was overlooking the delightful Lake Wakatipu, this confirmed that the setting was indeed wonderful. I’m not sure what it was about Queenstown that I loved. I guess it was because it wasn’t a city and not as busy as Auckland (although I’ve already said Auckland wasn’t that busy anyway) and compared to stinky Rotorua, it was fresher. I guess it had all of the charm and less of the hype.

The day after arriving at Queenstown, we were feeling rather adventurous and decided to book the Shotover Jet. Well, Queenstown is famous for adrenaline induced activities, so we couldn’t pass the opportunity to do something in that category. Going on the Shotover Jet was a thrilling experience which offered magnificent scenery and certainly something I would do again and again. The jetboat shot up at down the river while tackling grade 3-5 rapids at god knows what speed, through narrow canyons, just missing the rock faces as well as giving a couple of 360 degree spins. We were soaked by the end of it (just as well they provided waterproof clothing). My description doesn’t do it justice so click on this link to take a look.

We woke up very early one morning to travel to Milford Sound. I will talk about this magical and memorable place in another post.

On our last day in Queenstown we spent the morning at Walter Peak Farm. We boarded the TSS Earnslaw steamship, affectionately known as the Lady of the Lake and cruised on the fabulous Lake Wakatipu. We had lunch at the Colonels Homestead Restaurant at Walter Peak before heading back to Queenstown. We spent the rest of our time in Queenstown doing a spot of souvenir shopping and just taking in and enjoying this amazing town and its idyllic lakeside setting.

The next stop in New Zealand was Rotorua. We travelled to Rotorua by coach through the rich farmland of Waitomo, stopping at the freezing cold Waitomo caves en-route. Waitomo Caves was quite an experience for two Deaf people being guided in the dark!! In the caves we saw stalactites and stalagmites formed over thousands of years by constant dripping of waters. We’ve absolutely no idea what the tour guide was babbling on about but he didn’t seem to shut up; it was impossible to even try lipreading him because the only light we had was the torch he was carrying! We were in a large group so just followed everyone taking particular interest in the glow worms hanging off the ceilings and making sure they didn’t fall on us. We also enjoyed a boat ride through the famous Glow-worm grotto, which is illuminated by thousands of tiny lights emitted by the Glow worms, suspended from the cave ceiling. Just as well as had our travel guide to gain information about the cave otherwise we really would have been clueless!

We finally arrived in Rotorua early evening. Two words to describe Rotorua – IT STINKS! It really does. Every now and again you would get this horrible, strong whiff of rotten eggs (it was actually sulphur). Honestly, I’m not joking. Rotorua sits on the edge of a large lake, in the crater of an ancient volcano. The entire area is thermally active, hence the smell of sulphur. Despite that, I actually enjoyed Rotorua. It was totally different to any of the places I had ever been to.

We started our visit with an Eco Thermal Tour. Ben was our tour guide for this and he was pretty cool. He gave us some interesting facts enabling us to learn about New Zealand’s geothermal ecosystems and volcanic activity. We saw Wai-O-Tapu (know as Lady Know Geyser) erupting as well as visiting some boiling mud pools and the Waimangu Volcanic Valley. I was really fascinated by all this. Later that day, we went on a four wheel drive to the top of Mount Tararewa and had the opportunity to walk into the crater. Me, walking inside a volcano – I never thought I’d see the day! Our tour guide for this was Terry and he was quite enthusiastic, providing us with lots of information about the area.

One thing about Rotorua is that it is a centre for Maori culture. The Maori were the first people to settle on the island. While we were there, we were booked to see a Hangi & Concert. I was really looking forward to this as I was keen to experience Maori culture and observe tribal songs and dances as well as enjoying the food cooked the traditional Maori way on hot stones in an authentic earthen oven. However, this turned out to be a disaster and not Deaf friendly at all. We got there and sat at our table and quickly discovered how hearing orientated it was. The room was so big that we had no chance of lipreading the guy who was speaking on the stage and it seemed the main aim of the evening was to involve the audience. He appeared to be teasing members of the audience and selecting individuals at random to pick on. It would have been impossible to take part and we had no chance of following even a small percentage of the evening. Rob did not say a word the whole time we were there and I could tell from his silence that he was getting more and more infuriated at how inaccessible the whole thing was. Rather than sitting there looking like lemons for much longer (and risk being targeted by the bloke on stage), I decided to get up and leave: Rob’s face lightened up at the suggestion and I could see the relief pouring out of him. He did not want to suggest leaving because he knew how much I was looking forward to that evening. Bless him! After pointing out that it was not accessible, the staff did not argue and agreed to a refund and arranged for a taxi to take us back to our hotel. (Before anyone starts going “awwh, poor Deaf people” just take a minute to think about how unaware hearing people appear to be when providing entertainment, information, etc when really, it doesn’t take much to make the necessary adjustments to ensure things are accessible to all).

Our time in Rotorua felt rather brief, I would have been happy to stay a bit longer, but faced with the prospect of overdosing on sulphur fumes, it’s probably best we didn’t!

We spent the good part of a day in Waiheke Island. We caught the ferry from Auckland, which took about 45 minutes, and joined Ananda Tours vineyard tour. Waiheke Island was gorgeous, displaying spectacular views, superb scenery and white sandy beaches. We visited three vineyards and did our fair share of wine tasting and got a bit sloshed! I know, we’re not meant to swallow the wine but hey, who cares?!

Waiheke is also very unique. There is no reticulated water on the island, residents generally survive with tank water; some lucky islanders have bores, and if anyone runs out of water, there are 3 companies on the island that will deliver water by tanker at the cost of $10 per 100 litres. At the height of summer when the population swells, there can be waits of up to 3 days for water if not pre-booked. There is no public sewerage system on Waiheke – each home and business has a septic tank system. Because of the above two reasons, plus residents’ reticence, there are no big hotels or high rises on the Island. The population of Waiheke is 8000 and 1,300 people commute to Auckland on a daily basis. Interesting stuff eh?

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves that day and had a great tour guide, Jenny. Jenny actually knew we were Deaf beforehand (and so did the rest of the tour guides) and produced written notes of what she would be saying on the commentary. She made an effort to ensure we were aware of what was what. Why can’t all tour guides be as accommodating? It obviously wasn’t that difficult. We completed our visit on the Island by eating at one of the restaurants. This was a funny experience because it was a rather fishy restaurant. Almost everything on the menu contained fish. Rob and I HATE seafood, so you can imagine our faces once we realised how fishy it was! After asking the waitress if it would be possible to have something that isn’t on the menu, she revealed the chef would be happy to give us a beef dish. Phew!

With most cities, when you reach the city’s centre you get overwhelmed with the number of people there are, and the rather hectic atmosphere. However, Auckland was somewhat different. It felt like we were in a large village rather than a large city.

We started the tour of New Zealand by meeting with Bush and Beach Tours for an afternoon guided walk into Auckland’s spectacular Waitakere Ranges. This tour was a fabulous introduction to New Zealand nature with rugged coastline, magnificent waterfalls and wild black sand beaches combined with native rainforest and natural birdlife. The views were simply breath-taking. Our last stop on that tour was a visit to Piha Beach. Piha Beach was unusual – the sand was actually magnetic; placing a magnet close to the sand, you could actually see it being attracted to the magnet. Within seconds, the magnet was covered in sand. I don’t think this is common, but if it is, then it’s news to me!

We also visited Waiheke Island while staying in Auckland, but I will talk about that in another post.

We ended our stay in Auckland by going on a morning Dolphin Cruise. The cruise took us to the sparkling water of the Hauraki Gulf, surrounded by a myriad of South Pacific Islands. However, we were quite disappointed with this as we did not see that many dolphins and were on the boat probably 3 hours. We did get to see quite a lot of dolphins in the space of about 20 minutes, but the rest of the time consisted of waiting to see more. It was quite funny really, we didn’t see anything for the first perhaps 90 minutes of the trip, so once it was announced that dolphins were in sight, absolutely everyone sprung into life and ran to the front of the boat. Ah well. It was a nice trip nevertheless.

We ended our stay in Auckland by going up the Sky Tower which offered fabulous views over the Hauraki Gulf and downtown Auckland as well as doing some shopping. I’m souvenir crazy, so have to shop for souvenirs everywhere we go!